What is Happening?
Who, What, When, Where and How?
After my brief introduction I am sure you would like to know more about the dolphins and whales. Although this website is mainly to raise awareness about the dolphins I believe the whales deserve some recognition as they are in the same boat as the dolphins.
Dolphins are being slaughtered throughout this world, for many reasons. Some countries believe it is their tradition, culture or it may just be used for food.
This tragedy is happening in many places in the world. But the many countries are Japan, Iceland, Norway and Denmark.
The dolphin hunting season starts in September and ends around April. Unfortunately it is an annual "tradition". Tradition being one of the excuses for this tragedy. Others being that the fishermen need the age, despite officials offering to pay the same as what they would get for slaughtering the dolphins. Another excuse is 'pest control', claiming the dolphins steal all their fish.
Some dolphins who aren't taken as food, sometimes can suffer a much worse life. They are separated from their pods and then forced to live in small enclosures for the amusement of humans and forced to participate in dolphin shows. Some, many, dolphins are forced to live in a concrete blocks. Is this really a life for a creature that usually swims in pods of 15 other dolphins and can swim hundreds of kilometers in a single day.
People who hunt dolphins use a technique called drive fishing, hunters in a line of motorized boats create a “wall of sound” between the dolphins and the open ocean by banging on metal poles lowered into the water; the poles have bell-shaped devices at one end to amplify the sound. The dolphins, who rely on sonar to navigate, are immediately disoriented and terrified and swim frantically to shore to escape the noise. There they are corralled into a small cove and trapped overnight by nets; at sunrise the next morning they are herded into an adjacent “killing cove,” where they are stabbed to death by hunters using harpoons, fish hooks, and knives. The emerald waters of the cove literally turn red with the animals’ blood. Some injured or exhausted dolphins simply drown. Fishermen drag still-living animals onto boats with hooks and harpoons or tie them to boats by the tail, forcing their airholes under water. The animals are hauled by truck, or dragged over concrete roads by their tails, to a nearby warehouse for butchering; those who are still alive are stabbed again and left to die of their injuries or bleed to death. Some drown in their own blood.
The killing of the dolphins is often witnessed (and sometimes assisted) by representatives of Japanese dolphinariums, including trainers and veterinarians. The dolphinariums attend the hunts to buy show able dolphins for their own use or for sale to dolphinariums and amusement parks in other parts of Asia and Europe. The hunters make significant sums of money from these sales; a single dolphin can fetch a price of more than $150,000.
Clearly society has reached a sad and pathetic stage where money is far more significant to a person then well-being and respect for a living and breathing creature. A creature who cares for its young, who saves humans lives. Instead of respecting these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat, people who work with them everyday and should understand their amazing personalities instead buy a new one then witness the death of many
Another amazing fact is that dolphins contain an EXTREMELY high amount of mercury , if we consume mercury we can get very ill and the symptoms can lead to a slow and painful death from mercury poisoning. I find it hard to understand the sense in this.
In the past dolphin meat has been included on the lunch menus of school children. Children of Japan were once fed mercury. Unfortunately those who consumed it may very have taken on the affects that will never wear off and can be passed from generation to generation. This tainted dolphin or pilot whale meat is still available for consumption despite the fact that it should be labelled as toxic. The dolphin meat is still sold and ready for consumption and even labelled deceivingly as 'whale meat' to gain more profit.
This brutal massacre — the largest scale dolphin kill in the world — goes on for six months of every single year.
It is commonly assumed that Japanese fishermen hunt dolphins to supply a small minority of Japanese people with dolphin meat. But unlike the expensive whale meat on the market, dolphin meat is NOT considered a delicacy in Japan, and the real reason the Japanese government issues permits to kill dolphins by the thousands every year has nothing to do with food culture, nor tradition. It has to do with pest control. As shocking as it sounds, some Japanese government officials view dolphins as pests to be eradicated in huge numbers. During a meeting at Taiji City Hall, the fishermen of Taiji admitted this to us. "We don’t kill the dolphins primarily for their meat. We kill them as a form of pest control," they told us. In other words, killing the competition is their way of preserving the ocean’s fish for themselves. To kill the competition sounds more like cheating, more like cowards, more like greed.
Science has established that dolphins are highly intelligent and complex marine mammals. How can "pest control" on dolphins continue with so little opposition from the Japanese people and the outside world? The answer is secrecy. Since people have traveled and confronted the fishermen in 2003 the fishermen have become increasingly paranoid about being photographed and filmed. Today, they hide the dolphin slaughter behind barbed wire, ropes and tarpaulin. Killing the dolphins before daylight breaks, they station guards at the mouth of the killing cove to ensure that no one witnesses the blood bath. So is 'pest control' the real deal?
The fishermen say they kill the dolphins "quickly and humanely." I cannot imagine a harpoon being driven into a dolphin that is left to drown or bleed to deal simply being quick nor humane. It is an outright lie. The methods used to kill the dolphins are so savage. The fishermen know that the world will be outraged when the truth gets out, hence why the word of this tragedy should be spread! Guided by their government, they hide behind phrases such as "food culture" and "tradition." They even once said they are proud of what they do. They have laughed out loud as they were throw spears at the dolphins and hauling them ashore with ropes, or dragging still live dolphins by their tail flukes to be slaughtered. "If they were really proud of this, then why do they go to such extreme measures hiding it? Why won’t they even let their own people know about the hunt?" It was once asked, and the answer was: "It is none of their business." But it is their business. The Japanese people have every right to know about the dolphin slaughter. And they have a right to know about the mercury-poisoned dolphin meat that is being fed to their nation.
Dolphins are being slaughtered throughout this world, for many reasons. Some countries believe it is their tradition, culture or it may just be used for food.
This tragedy is happening in many places in the world. But the many countries are Japan, Iceland, Norway and Denmark.
The dolphin hunting season starts in September and ends around April. Unfortunately it is an annual "tradition". Tradition being one of the excuses for this tragedy. Others being that the fishermen need the age, despite officials offering to pay the same as what they would get for slaughtering the dolphins. Another excuse is 'pest control', claiming the dolphins steal all their fish.
Some dolphins who aren't taken as food, sometimes can suffer a much worse life. They are separated from their pods and then forced to live in small enclosures for the amusement of humans and forced to participate in dolphin shows. Some, many, dolphins are forced to live in a concrete blocks. Is this really a life for a creature that usually swims in pods of 15 other dolphins and can swim hundreds of kilometers in a single day.
People who hunt dolphins use a technique called drive fishing, hunters in a line of motorized boats create a “wall of sound” between the dolphins and the open ocean by banging on metal poles lowered into the water; the poles have bell-shaped devices at one end to amplify the sound. The dolphins, who rely on sonar to navigate, are immediately disoriented and terrified and swim frantically to shore to escape the noise. There they are corralled into a small cove and trapped overnight by nets; at sunrise the next morning they are herded into an adjacent “killing cove,” where they are stabbed to death by hunters using harpoons, fish hooks, and knives. The emerald waters of the cove literally turn red with the animals’ blood. Some injured or exhausted dolphins simply drown. Fishermen drag still-living animals onto boats with hooks and harpoons or tie them to boats by the tail, forcing their airholes under water. The animals are hauled by truck, or dragged over concrete roads by their tails, to a nearby warehouse for butchering; those who are still alive are stabbed again and left to die of their injuries or bleed to death. Some drown in their own blood.
The killing of the dolphins is often witnessed (and sometimes assisted) by representatives of Japanese dolphinariums, including trainers and veterinarians. The dolphinariums attend the hunts to buy show able dolphins for their own use or for sale to dolphinariums and amusement parks in other parts of Asia and Europe. The hunters make significant sums of money from these sales; a single dolphin can fetch a price of more than $150,000.
Clearly society has reached a sad and pathetic stage where money is far more significant to a person then well-being and respect for a living and breathing creature. A creature who cares for its young, who saves humans lives. Instead of respecting these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat, people who work with them everyday and should understand their amazing personalities instead buy a new one then witness the death of many
Another amazing fact is that dolphins contain an EXTREMELY high amount of mercury , if we consume mercury we can get very ill and the symptoms can lead to a slow and painful death from mercury poisoning. I find it hard to understand the sense in this.
In the past dolphin meat has been included on the lunch menus of school children. Children of Japan were once fed mercury. Unfortunately those who consumed it may very have taken on the affects that will never wear off and can be passed from generation to generation. This tainted dolphin or pilot whale meat is still available for consumption despite the fact that it should be labelled as toxic. The dolphin meat is still sold and ready for consumption and even labelled deceivingly as 'whale meat' to gain more profit.
This brutal massacre — the largest scale dolphin kill in the world — goes on for six months of every single year.
It is commonly assumed that Japanese fishermen hunt dolphins to supply a small minority of Japanese people with dolphin meat. But unlike the expensive whale meat on the market, dolphin meat is NOT considered a delicacy in Japan, and the real reason the Japanese government issues permits to kill dolphins by the thousands every year has nothing to do with food culture, nor tradition. It has to do with pest control. As shocking as it sounds, some Japanese government officials view dolphins as pests to be eradicated in huge numbers. During a meeting at Taiji City Hall, the fishermen of Taiji admitted this to us. "We don’t kill the dolphins primarily for their meat. We kill them as a form of pest control," they told us. In other words, killing the competition is their way of preserving the ocean’s fish for themselves. To kill the competition sounds more like cheating, more like cowards, more like greed.
Science has established that dolphins are highly intelligent and complex marine mammals. How can "pest control" on dolphins continue with so little opposition from the Japanese people and the outside world? The answer is secrecy. Since people have traveled and confronted the fishermen in 2003 the fishermen have become increasingly paranoid about being photographed and filmed. Today, they hide the dolphin slaughter behind barbed wire, ropes and tarpaulin. Killing the dolphins before daylight breaks, they station guards at the mouth of the killing cove to ensure that no one witnesses the blood bath. So is 'pest control' the real deal?
The fishermen say they kill the dolphins "quickly and humanely." I cannot imagine a harpoon being driven into a dolphin that is left to drown or bleed to deal simply being quick nor humane. It is an outright lie. The methods used to kill the dolphins are so savage. The fishermen know that the world will be outraged when the truth gets out, hence why the word of this tragedy should be spread! Guided by their government, they hide behind phrases such as "food culture" and "tradition." They even once said they are proud of what they do. They have laughed out loud as they were throw spears at the dolphins and hauling them ashore with ropes, or dragging still live dolphins by their tail flukes to be slaughtered. "If they were really proud of this, then why do they go to such extreme measures hiding it? Why won’t they even let their own people know about the hunt?" It was once asked, and the answer was: "It is none of their business." But it is their business. The Japanese people have every right to know about the dolphin slaughter. And they have a right to know about the mercury-poisoned dolphin meat that is being fed to their nation.